Figure 7. GDF-15 inhibited the ability of DCs to stimulate a tumor-specific immune response in vivo.

(A) Flow cytometry. rhGDF-15 suppressed the expression of the murine BMDC phenotype-associated molecules H-2D^b, I-A^b and CD80. (B) Tumor growth curves for different groups. CT26 tumor cells (2×10⁶) were dorsally subcutaneously injected or co-injected with murine iDCs, GDF-15-treated DCs or mature DCs (1×10⁶) into BALB/c mice (10- to 12-week-old, male). Two weeks after the tumor challenge, the tumor size was calculated. (C) Tumor weights for different groups. Each tumor was excised four weeks after inoculation, and the tumor weight was measured. Mean ± SD. * P<0.05 and ** P<0.01 compared with the mDCs.